good morning, and thank you for joining us. i'm marcus washington. >> and i'm kris sanchez i'm in for laura garcia today. we want to get straight to the breaking news we have been bringing to you since we first broke in at 3:00 this morning. much of the bay area jolted awake after that earthquake struck around 2:30 this morning. the epicenter near burerkeley. >> we want to begin with meteorologist kari hall for a closer look at the magnitude of this quake. >> it was a 4.5 magnitude earthquake. some of the initial estimates were that it was a 4.7, but now brought down to a 4.5. still a minor earthquake that caused quite a bit of rattled nerves early this morning at 2:39 as it happened just to the east of berkeley. we also had another earthquake that occurred about an hour later in cupertino, a 2.6, so a lot of people are feeling that shaking this morning. we did have a lot of responses on facebook and twitter, people

saying did you feel it and a lot of people describe it as a jolt and then some rolling. now, with any earthquake that we have occurring on the hayward fault of course we pay very close attention to that and we will continue to monitor for the potential of any after shocks as we go into the next several hours. we also have watching for some of that rain that's been moving through the bay area with some of those light showers that still linger as the heaviest rain has moved off to the east. i will have more on this and a look at the microclimate forecast coming up in just a few minutes. just as kari was speaking the usgs changed that magnitude estimation, they are down grading it just a fraction of a point, 4.4 now. >> right. certainly the epicenter of that was in berkeley and "today in the bay" pete suratos continues our coverage this morning, he is in berkeley near the epicenter. i know you felt the shaking early in morning from home. >> reporter: yeah, that's right, marcus, of course, we're getting up around that time roughly around 2:30 for our morning

shift. felt that shaking in the oakland hills area, wasn't too sure what it was but of course we learned that it was this 4.4, 4.5 earthquake that we've been reporting on all morning here on i object too. right now we are at the epicenter near the claremont hotel in berkeley. we showed you all morning long there isn't any damage that we can see at least on the storefronts here in that claremont area, but we want to show you some video right now, this was in san leandro at one of the safe ways in san leandro on some item that were knocked down, that was video given to us or we got from someone on twitter. they tweeted it out like a number of the responses that we've seen all morning long. but here on claremont we've been talking to people going in-n-out of the pete's coffee shop. i talked with a person who lives not too far from here in berkeley. he has an earthquake committee they started ten years ago, whenever there is an earthquake all the neighbors will put out a white flag on their homes to show that they are safe in the

event of any major disaster. of course this morning they say it didn't call for people to put white flags in front of their homes it was all clear, but here he is, i talked to him about this morning's events, here is what he had to say. >> these things have happened before and it's the type of thing where it's kind of like benign neglect. you know they're going to come sometime and when they do hopefully it's not to be as strong as you hope they won't be. >> reporter: pretty cool that he do that in that berkeley neighborhood as far as notifying people to say if they are safe in the event of an earthquake. obviously this morning's magnitude wasn't enough to do so as far as putting out those white flags but we do report earlier berkeley pd saying there is no major damage in the city as a result of the earthquake. we will continue to monitor things and have another update in the next half hour. we're live in berkeley, pete suratos for "today in the bay." >> so far just a reminder to be

ready for the next big one. the quake did briefly disrupt the morning commute bringing widespread delays to bart and vta. >> bob redell is live in oakland with the impact we're seeing in morning. i'm sure that's a hot topic with a lot of people this morning as they board. >> reporter: good morning, marcus and kris. within the past 30 minutes bart did report that all of their track inspections are complete and there are no delays in the system with regard to this i can kwa. it was earlier this morning that bart did send out some of its people to inspect the tracks which is normal after a kwag of this magnitude, magnitude 4.4, 4.5. they did not find any damage but when they started service at 4:00 they did have the first trains out go slow so that train operators could keep an eye on the rails to make sure there were no problems. there were no problems at all and they were expecting some delays but i'm reporting there are no delays according to bart which is a great relief to riders this morning trying to catch the train after they had

that surprise jolt out of bed this morning. >> i just actually got up to get a glass of water and got back in bed so i was kind of awake. yeah, just shook us up, but i was like i bet that was a 5.0 and i bet it was close. he was like it was a 4.4, it was in berkeley. >> what do you have an internal seismograph. >> i mean, i'm from california, it's not too big of a deal. >> what about you? >> i slept through a little bit of it until she woke me up and then i could kind of feel the after shocks of it, but, yeah, it was scary. we haven't had one in a while and hopefully that was the last one for a while. >> reporter: this is video from across the bay at sfo, you are looking at one of the airport's air trains. this is one of the internal people movers to help people move throughout the airport. this was shut down it was shortly after that magnitude 4.4, 4.5 this morning that the people at the airport wanted to make sure that the train was

operating properly and there was no damage. we have presumed that the train is back up and running at sfo and we know as i mentioned before bart completed all their track inspections, they were reporting no delays. as far as the roads are concerned, i want to send it over to vianey. what are you seeing? >> bob, everything has been off to a fairly great start in terms of the roads. as far as mass transit goes as you gave us that delay on bart, vta riders can expect to see minor delays, i am checking for updates on that, have not seen an update as far as if they are back to normal. the roads, i have been keeping an eye out on the roads as well, it looks like now we're seeing delays not only on the northbound side of the 17 but also on the southbound side right at summit road. now there are two lanes blocked and that's causing heavy, heavy delays. unfortunately if this is your morning commute you definitely want to head out now because it looks like they are working to clear a couple vehicles out on the right-hand side. at least the bay bridge metering

lights aren't on at this hour. back to you. certainly we've been talking about people feeling that jolt throughout the area. right now we want to go to denise byron from santa cruz who felt that kwa i can this morning. denise, describe to us what you felt and what was your first reaction? >> i have to say my first reaction was screaming out loud, holy crap, which is out of a dead sleep. it was definitely a rolling earthquake as far as i'm concerned. the bed was moving quite a bit. what bothers me having gone through the '89 quake is i'm always waiting to see how much stronger it's going to get before i determine if i'm jumping out of bed or, you know, staying there. so it seemed very long and i don't think it was, but, you know, dead sleep, waking up, not the easiest way to feel an earthquake. >> denise, i'm with you, i was still in bed, i hit the snooze, don't tell my producer, it did feel like that shaking and i'm with you, like i didn't know if

it was going to continue, if it was going to get stronger, if that was just the first of a series. it's nerve-racking. >> it is. i have to admit i didn't go back to sleep right away, it probably took another 45 minutes. we do, we always wait for that next one, you know, how big is it going to be and is this the precursor. yeah, it was definitely, you know, no damage, there's nothing -- nothing fell off the wall, but definitely rattled my nerves. >> we will put you on the spot here, denise. do you have an earthquake kit ready? do you have an earthquake plan? >> i do, and it's not as evolved as i would like it to be and certainly for the 45 minutes i was awake after the earthquake i made the rest of the list. >> good person there. good job. >> i remember we had one not long after my first baby was born so that was 11 years ago and i didn't even think to call into the station to see if i should come to work because i was so preoccupied with having that new baby, she was on the changing table and i was like,

oh, my god, we don't have an earthquake kit. i was like we are not qualified to be parents. we have to send her back. >> and you think about, too, the furniture that you have around the house and make sure that it is anchored to the wall. your television, you think about things like that when you feel that shaking and so now is that good reminder and the time to think about are you ready for anything that could be major because the last major earthquake we had on the hayward fault was in 1868. it was a long time ago and that was a 7.0. we know that we are well overdue for a major earthquake along the hayward fault. so make sure you are ready. make a plan. and make sure that you and your family know that you are supposed to drop, cover and hold. that you get under some sturdy furniture. you get under a table or a desk. after the quake make sure your family has a meeting place and that's something that of course should be planned ahead of time. why do we pay attention to these small quakes? it's because it to be a

foreshock to a larger event. you make sure you drop, cover and hold, you have your earthquake kit, you are ready in case we do have something a lot more major happening as we go into the next several hours, we will be monitoring for that right here and keep you updated. >> thank you very much, kari. we have been tweeting updates all morning long since the news broke around 2:30 this morning, but for breaking news alerts on this or any other breaking news you can always follow us on twitter. we are at nbc bay area. at 6:10 coming up on "today in the bay" other top stories here in the bay area. the race is on, the long time san francisco political leader expected to throw her hat into the race for mayor. plus brand-new news this morning, a major policy change may be ahead for pot just days after it became legal in california. when "today in the bay" continues.

it is 6:13 now as you wake up on this thursday morning, maybe you are up early because of that earthquake or hearing the rain on the roof right now, mostly spotty light showers still linger from the heavier rain we had yesterday. as we go throughout the rest of the day staying mostly dry and the roads are still wet. as we go to willow glen, mid 50s

and it will be a warm day with a mix of sun and clouds. more rain it on the way. we will talk about how much we've measured and how much additional rain we will see in the next 24 hours coming up in about five minutes. and a live look right now at the bay bridge toll plaza. we are starting to see some slowing in the cash lanes, fast track lanes steam to be moving along just fine. i will have a look at drive times and an update on that mass transit coming up in just a bit. 6:14 right now. breaking news as we continue to stay on top of this morning, a 4.4 magnitude earthquake rattled the bay area overnight. it was centered near berkeley. on our facebook page we have received more than 1,000 comments. right now you can see right there, dianna, yes, that was a quake, quite a shake but it did not last long. one children's board book fell out of a bookcase right there. so that's another one. another one, cat jumped off the bed and i heard the closet doors

rattle pretty hard. my cat is curled back up in my lap in wood side now, i guess that's my all clear. >> sometimes the animals are the best judges, right? >> they do. 6:15 now. happening today, a long time leader in san francisco politics is expected to throw her hat into the ring for the race for mayor. former board of supervisors president angela alioto plans to file nomination papers later this morning at the department of elections. she is the latest big name seeking to finish out lee's term. mayor lee died suddenly last month. acting mayor london breed also has talked about running but she has not yet filed papers. among those considered locks to run, former state lawmaker and supervisor mark leno, also district 6 supervisor jane kim and the examiner reports that dennis herrera also pulled papers considering a run. the deadline to file those papers is next tuesday.

happening today the acting mayor of san francisco says that she will announce, quote, significant progress in the city's effort to end all traffic fatalities. we've posted before on san francisco's vision zero goal, that goal is to have zero deaths by the year 2024. we checked with the city's data overnight. 2017 saw only 17 deaths, that's down from 30 in 2016 and down from 31 in 2015. also today silicon valley auto show begins in san jose. fans will get to see the electric cars, classic cars and more. it turn out that this runs through sunday at the convention center. breaking news this morning on the waterfront. jeff sessions may try to shut down california's pot sales. >> scott mcgrew, you've warned about this in the past. >> i have. we've done several episodes of our tv show interviewing cannabis entrepreneurs about

this risk they're taking because jeff sessions has said over and over he is against the use of marijuana. marijuana may be legal under state law but not under federal law and jeff sessions is the federal government's top cop. this morning the associated press is reporting sessions will undo an obama era policy that looked the other way. the ap says sessions will allow local u.s. attorneys to decide whether to prosecute. an official announcement is expected later today. this comes of course just days after this, the first of the lines after the legalization of pot in california. all right. so what does all this mean? marijuana laws already confusing, it's both legal and not legal and this makes everything more confusing, more vague. we will obviously be in contact with our local u.s. attorney brine stretch, the guy who would do the prosecuting just as soon as he gets into the office this morning. looking at wall street, shares in intel fell 3%

wednesday on news of a security flaw in its chips, otherwise stocks continue to go up and up, all three major indices, the dow, the nasdaq, the s&p 500 all opened up record highs in morning, nasdaq above 7,000. those shares in tesla are suffering, that company said what we said it would say, it's not making the model 3 fast enough. keep in mind more than 400,000 people have plunked down $1,000 deposit to get a model 3. the company said they made 1,500 in the last three months, that's a fraction of the number of cars that elon musk promised over and over. the "wall street journal" says this morning that tesla news continues a long history of company forecasts poor enough to be construed as misleading. this is why i get on tesla's case about trucks and whatever else they're doing. >> elon musk's rocket. >> that, too. you have to build the car you said you would build because people gave you money. >> when it's misleading then we are talking about potential

legality. >> that's true. all right. we will take a look here, it looks like the royal wedding that everyone is talking about will actually provide a jolly kick in the pocketbook for the economy. they predict that the marriage may generate $700 million across england. spending on travel and celebrations, that wedding takes place may 19th at windsor castle. get your tickets ready. get the fascinators ready. >> or anything that meghan markle wears sells out. >> have you gotten your white coat yet? >> no, it sold out. >> we're too slow on the uptake. you do need a coat heading out this morning and also the umbrella. we still have light showers moving through parts of the bay area this morning and we will have some more rain on the way. let's get a look at the radar. mostly some light rain, some light shades of green indicating

shrinkless around pacifica, moving into san francisco and also around mill valley right now. as we head out we are going to talk about some of those rainfall totals that we had from yesterday. that was the first round of rain, there are still more on the way. bodega bay had .3 of an inch of rain, healdsburg a tenth, two tends of an inch of rain in american canyon and napa, oakland, three-quarters of an inch. east san jose almost half an inch of rain. this is more rain than we had throughout the whole month of december, moraga mentioned almost an inch of rain, san francisco tenth of an inch of rain. we start out with much milder temperatures and mostly cloudy skies. our temperatures in the mid to upper 50s with our highs today into the mid 60s. i think we will get clearing in the south bay. it will be mostly cloudy with light rain in the north bay. as we go throughout the rest of the forecast spotty showers still have been happening throughout the day in santa rosa and point reyes, over toward

napa as well. the heavier rain starting to line up at 4:00 tomorrow morning, that will give us a wet morning commute but still not a lot happening for areas south of the golden gate bridge. our additional rainfall we are looking at a possibility of another half of an inch of rain over toward napa and light amounts, about a tenth of an inch of rain further south. the showers clear out for the weekend, highs in the mid to upper 50s, inland areas will be cooler, looking at sunshine, though, for saturday and sunday. i will have another quick look at the forecast as we head over to vianey, an update on vta and bart. >> if you are just now joining us, good morning. i do have an update as far as the vta and the bart system go, we saw a couple of delays due to earthquake inspections but those inspections have been completed at bart and as of right now vta still expecting some minor delays, we are of course as always checking for any updates on that. as far as the bay area goes, well, i do have a bit of something that could cause some delays along westbound 92 right

near the toll plaza, looks like a lane is blocked due to a crash. our speed sensors are already starting to pick up delays. as we inch closer to that 6:30 mark we will expect major delays. northbound 17 at summit road two lanes remain blocked. all across the board expect road hazards in that area, so if that's your morning commute you need to head out now because it's going to take some time to clear out the minor crashes. no injuries, though, to report. coming up next on "today in the bay," we continue that breaking news coverage of the overnight quake felt all around the bay area. and our nbc bay area anchor raj mathai felt the earthquake as well. twitter page he wrote, quote, earthquake woke me up. anyone else feel that? los altos. time now 6:22. okay mcdonald's.

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like jack's one-of-a-kind breakfast pockets for $2 each. three of jack's famous tacos and a small drink for $3! or a classic bonus jack combo for $5! it's like i tell jack jr., it's all about big values, jr. prices. we continue breaking news for you this morning after a 4.4 earthquake felt throughout the bay area. epicenter there in berkeley this morning. we've talked to a lot of people who have felt it from the berkeley area all the way down to santa cruz, throughout san francisco, oakland, just a lot of people. >> the question always for our public transit agencies is did it affect the tracks. we have lynn from the vta by phone. >> good morning, marcus and

kris. yeah, so our routine efforts involved some precautionary measures and what we usually do when the system is in place -- or in service, rather, is we stop all of our trains and we deboard anybody who is on and then we move any trains that are kind of like in the middle of an overpass and we go at restricted speeds of about 15 miles per hour just to check everything, and that including overhead tracks, substation and platform areas and maintenance yards. as you are well aware this occurred at 2:00 something in the morning so our trains were not really impacted. we were just sharing with everyone at the start of passenger service -- i mean, at the start of light rail service we would be doing those checks.

>> all right. well, we know that there was a little bit of a delay. back to normal now? >> yes, we are back to normal. >> thank you very much. listen, we know that we can count on you for information when we need it. >> thank you. continuing the coverage here on "today in the bay," that breaking news that we have been talking about since 4:00 this morning, that early morning quake that woke up much of the bay area, a 4.4 magnitude quake from overnight. we have live team coverage to get you up to speed. and taking a live look outside from the bay bridge toll plaza, things moving smoothly there. so the checks of vta and bart may be affecting those agencies, but drivers seem to be doing just fine. we will check on your traffic picture in just two and a half minutes. you're watching "today in the bay." a 4-poi m

bay area jolted. right now at 6:30 our breaking news coverage continues after a 4.4 magnitude earthquake rattled the bay area early this morning. good morning, and thank you for joining us, i'm marcus washington. >> and i'm kris sanchez in for laura garcia. that quake hit around 2:39 this morning with the epicenter near berkeley, but viewers from all around the bay area told us they felt the shaking. i felt it as i was in bed this morning in san jose. >> we have team coverage to get you up to speed. we want to begin with meteorologist kari hall for a closer look at the magnitude of this quake.

kari, a pretty shaky one this morning for a lot of people. >> it is still considered a minor quake, but enough to rattle some nerves around the bay area. it was a 4.7, it was a 4.5, now it has been complete -- i guess some of the magnitude surveys from the usgs said now a 4.4, but still it is a quake that we will continue to monitor. also some people in the south bay felt some shaking because it was a 2.6 that happened around cupertino about an hour later, that was at 3:34 this morning. so a lot of rattled nerves this morning and we will continue to monitor for the potential of any after shakes. so far we haven't had any. now, i am also watching the weather front with light showers that continue behind heavier rain we had yesterday evening. as you head out for your dive this morning going out for work, still light rain occurring around pacifica and parts of the north bay. i will have more on this and also some tips to help you get ready. we are looking ahead to the

weekend as well, that's coming up in a few minutes, but for now we will send it back to you. "today in the bay's" pete suratos continues our team coverage this morning from berkeley near the epicenter there. pete, i know you felt that shaking earlier this morning like a lot of us here at the station. >> reporter: yes, right, marcus, definitely felt that shaking in the oakland hills area where i live. as i was getting ready for work at 2:30 a.m. like a lot of people -- well, they weren't getting up for work, but a lot of people that may have felt that this morning when that earthquake took place. we are here at the epicenter near the claremont hotel in berkeley. we showed you all morning long not much damage here, guys. not a lot of things falling off in any of the stores at the storefront that we are in front of here on domingo avenue in berkeley. now, the video you nice are looking at right now that we're showing you, this was at a san leandro safeway where some items were knocked over. that video was tweeted out. so you saw that there were at least some minor effects as a result of this 4.4 magnitude earthquake here with the

epicenter in the berkeley area. i did get a chance to speak to folks at this pete's coffee. i spoke to a worker who was getting ready for work then that earthquake took place and a guy who has a earthquake committee to help folks get prepared if and when that big one hits. here is what they had to say about this morning. >> i was awake because i wasn't sleeping very well anyway, but i heard it from my parents' room, maybe the other end of the house, and then saw my door shake and my mirror shake and then it passed right through. >> these things have happened before and it's the type of thing where it's kind of like benign neglect. you know they're going to come sometime and when they do hopefully it's not going to be as strong as you hope they won't be. >> reporter: now we know we heard from berkeley police this morning who also confirmed that there were no major damages

around the city of berkeley as a result of this earthquake, but just in speaking to folks here this morning as well as from my personal experience it was at least -- definitely a wake-up call for folks this morning. we're live in berkeley, pete suratos for "today in the bay." we will be checking those earthquake kits, i think you will be, too, pete. the quake briefly disrupted the morning commute for a bit this morning. >> it's bringing widespread delays to bart and vta. "today in the bay's" bob redell is live in oakland with the impact we're seeing this morning. good morning, bob. >> reporter: good morning, marcus and kris. the good news that bart says is that they've completed all their track inspections and don't expect there to be any delays when this quake struck around 2:40 they did send people out on the tracks which is usual when you have an event like this to make sure there was no daniel. they also had first trains leaving their stations at 4:00 this morning. we had the operators running the trains slow so they could keep an eye on the rails to make sure there were no problems. they didn't find any issues. there was initially the thought they might have some delays, but

whatever delays there were initially there are none right now which is great news for people here going to the rockridge bart station. we've spoken with a lot of commuters to talk about their experiences overnight. most did feel the shaking but surprising there were some who thought not so much. >> ever so previously. it awoke nd me last night and that was it. how big was it? >> 4.4, 4.5. >> didn't make much of an impact. >> i was hoping it wasn't going to be bigger than it is. earthquake kits and sit and wait to see if something bigger is going to happen. >> you could feel it. it's intense. >> it's terrifying. >> my whole family woke up, went back to sleep. >> were you surprised to hear it was only a 4.4, 4.5. >> yes, i thought it was maybe at least a 6. >> reporter: this is video from across the bay at sfo taken shortly after the earthquake around 2:40 this morning. you are looking at one of the sfo air trans, people movers

that move people around in the airport. the airport shut down that system briefly to make sure there was no damage to the rails or the system itself, as far as we know there wasn't and that is back up and running. again, bart having no delays after they inspected all their tracks and found no damage. for me personally i live in livermore, yes, that quake woke me and my family up. my first instinct was to take a look at my swimming pool to see if it was slork about because during the napa quake the water did slosh about, it wasn't slork about this morning which made me realize this wasn't a magnitude 6 like napa quake, my gut telling me it's somewhere in the 4.0 range. reporting live at the rockridge bart station in oakland, bob redell, "today in the bay." bob, thank you for that update. i bring good news in terms of mass transit. the vta we do have an update on that, we finally got an update. inspections have been completed across the board, all of mass

transit is officially back to normal which is great news for early morning riders. for the roads, unfortunately we have seen a couple more issues pop up but the one that's really causing major delays and some headaches is along state route -- or along, rather, highway 17 northbound and southbound side, we have two lanes blocked at the summit road. look at our speed sensors, completely red, backed up all the way past summit. you can expect heavy delays out of that area, they are working to clear some of those vehicles off to the right hand shoulder. it appears to be an accident involving three cars, but fortunately nobody has been reported as having any injuries. so that's always great news. we have an update on that sh a along westbound 92 right near the toll plaza. there was a lane that was blocked, it looks like they're working to move that off to the side. as far as that goes no major accidents reported at this time. if you are in santa cruz you may want to head out now because the summit is expecting really heavy delays for at least the next half hour or so.

we've been tweeting out updates all morning long since the news broke around 2:30 this morning. for breaking news alerts follow us on twitter. that's @nbcbayarea. we also have some other news this morning, bart police are still trying to find answers after a shooting incident last night led to a second shooting involving bart police officers. in that one one man was killed. it all unfolded outside a barber shop outside the street from the west oakland bart station. witnesses say one man shot another in the leg and then arriving officers broke up the shooting, fired on the man, he was killed. one person says she understands why police used force, but she doesn't think that the man had to die. >> i feel like they undertrain and they should be able to get trained a little bit better so that they could do what they need to do in order not to take a person's life. >> investigators are still not confirming that the officer is actually the one who fired the

fatal shot. oakland police plan to interview that bart police officer as well. and an update for you now on the search for this man, he is accused of sexual assaulting and robbing a teacher inside her san jose classroom. we were telling you about this yesterday. it happened at harker middle school in san jose. police are asking for the public's help to identify this man in the surveillance video which we posted to nbcbayarea.com. see if you can help get that man off the street. 6:39. a new warning about a scam in the south bay. businesses have been targeted by a serial con man. this is video of that man in action. take a look at a café in morgan hill. that owner was so furious about being conned she posted her experience on facebook and it turns out out businesses between morgan hill and gilroy have been scammed, too. the man calls himself a property developer and says that his truck engine just blew. he says that -- well, he actually asks for $250 to tow

his truck and then promises to come right back. but there's one big problem here. >> puts his hand out and shakes your hand and, you know, you trust him. i will come back, i will be right back, call my number, i will be right back, i promise. well, that promise didn't mean anything obviously. >> police in morgan hill are just learning about this scam and they say they have now launched an investigation. new this morning, a first of its kind honor anywhere for a south bay animal shelter. the humane society silicon valley in milpitas is getting the first ever award for being a model shelter. uc davis is handing out that award. being a model shelter means following a strict set of more than 500 new guidelines devised by the association of shelter veterinarians. shelter leaders are thrilled to get the honor. >> this is all about saving more lives. in addition, it's all about setting a standard of excellence that we hope there inspire other shelters all across the country that they will want to step up

and follow in our foot sheps. >> the new guidelines are meant to regulate the welfare and care of shelter animals and were devised because there are no federal guidelines in place. this event is happening at 10:30 this morning. a live look at the xab center in san jose. that's where the drama is getting started to help select the new u.s. figure skating team. >> the top skaters are taking part in the u.s. figure skating championships which continue tonight with the men's short program. lopez-sanchez night the ladies got things started at two bay area skaters book ended that short program. fremont's karen chen who finished third. paulina edmonds placed seventh. chen is defending her national title. edmonds competed in the sochi games when she was just 15 years old. >> to be able to come here to the u.s. championships in my hometown and nail a short program makes me so proud and so

happy. >> and so to be able to skate a close to clean performance just a while ago was -- i'm extremely happy with that and i'm just -- it was like a solid base for friday. >> as you hear chen mentioning friday, she's talking about tomorrow night when the women's long program is scheduled. 19-year-old brady tin nell from illinois is in first after the short program. coming up next on "today in the bay," we continue covering that overnight earthquake that shook the bay area out of their sleep. plus other news of the day, including a disturbing story in the east bay. a family demanding answers after their dog was attacked viciously at a local kennel. and infighting in washington is just getting worse, the president wants to quash a book. we will have the latest. big news in wall street right now. the dow up 100 points, the dow breaks above 25,000 for the first time ever after strong jobs data.

right now at 6:45 on this thursday morning, you walk out the door, it is cool and also still some light lingering rain with some wet roads on your drive to work. still some light showers in parts of the north bay and peninsula. as we take a live look outside in fremont the roads are still wet and we don't have any more rain falling as of now. our temperatures warming up into

the upper 60s today and there's more rain in the forecast and we will detail that coming up in about five minutes. we are seeing delays along the san mateo bridge due to an earlier crash that continues to block one of the lanes west on 92 headed towards the san mateo bridge, expect about a 26 minute drive time. no metering lights on just yet at the bay bridge. i will have a closer look at your drive times coming up in just a bit. back to that breaking news as we continue to stay on top of it this morning. a 4.4 magnitude earthquake rattled the bay area overnight, it was centered near berkeley. on our facebook and twitter pages we have received a lot of people talking about how they felt that quake. we received thousands of likes and comments as well. as you can see bedroom on the hill, felt as if someone shook my bed back and forth frantically and woke me up. i heard the structure of the room as it -- as if it collapsed. i wonder if it was a hayward fault. in fact, it was the hayward fault that we now know, a 4.4

magnitude earthquake this morning. >> she described how it felt for me in my home in san jose as well. we still want to hear your comments, make sure you -- make sure that you tag up in your facebook, twitter, instagram and join us at nbcbayarea.com for that conversation as well. also, at 6:47 this morning, an east bay family desperate for answers this morning after picking up their dog from a kennel in walnut creek. the family says that he was badly injured during that stay there in walnut creek. this morning we have to tell you that the pictures we are about to show you are as disturbing as the story itself. the dog's owner says she dropped off her dog at northgate kennel for a few days and that's where she was mauled by another dog. the owner says she has not gotten an explanation from the kennel's owner. >> they haven't told me where it happened or how it happened and when we went to pick him up i

asked to see the kennel and they refused to let me see it. >> we reached out to the owner of the kennel and have not gotten a response yet. iannaconne says she reported this incident to walnut creek police, but was told no action would be taken because the incident did not involve a person. also this morning a falling out between friends is now turning into a disaster for the white house. >> scott mcgrew, the president demanding steve bannon quit talking. >> keep quiet, exactly right. in fact, the "washington post" just reported trump is trying to get a tell all book where all this controversy started banned with a keys and desist letter. in the book written by author michael wolf bannon is quote td as saying the president's son and president's son-in-law may have committed treason when he and others from the trump campaign met with russians at the trump tower. we know this meeting happened, here is one of the russians, because donald trump jr. actually admitted to it and

incredibly even released e-mails about it saying he was eager to hear the dirt that the russians had on hillary clinton. the president says steve bannon has nothing to do with me or my presidency. when he was fired he not only lost his job, he lost his mind. steve bannon has nothing to do with my presidency is ridiculous. he was the ceo of the president's campaign, chief strategist, the president even put him on the national security council even though people urged him not to. here is bannon right there in the oval office. here is what the white house press secretary had to say about bannon's accusations against donald trump jr. >> i would certainly think that going after the president's son in an outrageous and unprecedented way is not the best way to curry favor with anybody. >> sometimes children of presidents are out of bounds, but droumpd jr. is an adult and one of the president's closest

advisers, obviously a major part of his campaign and runs the president's business along with his brother. we examine what's going on in washington every day and we cover it on twitter as well. i'd who have for you to follow me on twitter, i am @scottmcgrew. right now -- >> we've been talking about the earthquake, but yesterday we were all talking about the rain as well. >> right, and we may go back to talking about the rain and earthquake, too, when you get to work this morning. that's what we have on the top of our minds. what's on here, a lot as we check out the start of why you are morning right now. as we get a look at your temperatures, it's a fairly mild start, we have had a number of our showers moving through. we are looking at high temperatures today that will be reaching into the mid 60s and the seven-day forecast is up at the bottom of the screen so getting dressed this morning you will still need a nice warm coat but also a hat because we do still have lingering light showers and a good day for the long sleeves and some shoes you

don't care about getting wet because there may still still be puddles out there. as we get a look at what's happening around the bay area we will still be tracking light rain here that will be moving inland, mostly from san francisco over toward the north bay. some of the heavier rain we had yesterday has since moved over towards the sierra and it does continue to weaken. as we go through the rest of the day here is the timeline, 10:30 this morning, still light spotty showers especially in parts of the north bay. there will be some clearing in the south bay, we are also seeing mostly clear skies. where the rain will continue to roll through will be from areas around san francisco and farther to the north for today, not expecting much in the south bay until early tomorrow morning when there could be a couple quick passes of rain moving through as the cold front starts to dip to the south and sweep all of this rain south of the bay area by tomorrow night, but still some rounds of rain possible over the next 24 hours. the additional rainfall we may see, most of us getting about a half of an inch or less and then

clearing out in time for the weekend with our high temperatures in san francisco in the mid to upper 50s, another chance of rain in the forecast for tuesday to wednesday of next week. vianey has been tracking some of the slowdowns now going across the san mateo bridge. san mateo bridge now expecting some pretty heavy delays. if i give you an overall look at the bay area you can see a number of accidents have popped up at least within the last half hour or so, but really our speed sensors are picking up major slowing along the westbound side right near the toll plaza. an earlier crash continues to block one of those lanes and you can expect delays as they work to get that out of the way. i did see on the chp report that a tow truck was heading towards the scene so hopefully they will get that cleared out in time. what doesn't seem to be getting any better, though, is near the summit, northbound 17 a lane continues to be blocked and you can see just how heavy that delay is if you're heading out in that location you may want to do so now. at least at the bay bridge we are seeing that those metering lights have remained off. i will send things back to you. coming up next, breaking

news, we continue to stay on top of this morning, that earthquake you may have felt overnight, it rattled the bay area. we are live with more on that magnitude 4.4 that struck this morning. but first happening now, snow that could eventually pile as high as 18 inches in the new england area has started to fall. the winter weather is expected to pick up today as the day goes on bringing whiteout conditions to the northeastern part of the u.s. it is impacting air travel as well. also this morning, cadbury is making a limited number of white chocolate versions of its popular cream easter egg, adding a cash prize for those who find them. the company says that it will make a small batch of between 350 and 400 white eggs for sale, that's until easter sunday. we are back in two minutes with more news. we want back to our breaking

news coverage this morning.. welcome back. it is 6:56. we want to get back to that breaking news coverage this morning. a magnitude 4.4 earthquake rattles the bay area overnight. >> in case you are just waking up this morning it hit around 2:30 this morning with an epicenter near berkeley as you can see on the map on your screen, but a lot of folks beyond berkeley say that they felt it. >> "today in the bay" pete suratos is live in berkeley this morning. pete, i know you felt it, too, at home in the oakland hills.

>> reporter: yeah, good morning. i definitely felt it this morning as i was getting ready for work at about 2:30 a.m. this morning in oakland, but where we're standing right now is at epicenter in berkeley across the street from the claremont hotel, no damage that we've seen here in this area on that popular storefront on domingo avenue. i want to show you guys some video that was tweeted out that we got and that was tweeted out on twitter from san leandro safeway where some items were knocked over as a result of this 4.4 magnitude earthquake, but i did get a chance to speak to someone at this pete's coffee that we're standing next to and she was actually getting ready for work this morning, she felt that earthquake. >> i was awake because i wasn't sleeping very well anyway, but i heard it from my parents' room, maybe the other end of the house and then saw my door shake and my mirror shake and then it passed right through. >> reporter: now, we also heard

from berkeley police this morning who confirmed there were no major damages in the city of berkeley as a result of this earthquake, but clearly from the reactions we're hearing this morning it seems like it was definitely a good wake-up call for folks this morning. we're live in berkeley, pete suratos for "today in the bay." of course, we have been following this story and tweeting out all those updates since it happened. that was at 2:39 this morning. we want to keep you up to date on what's going on for those breaking news alerts you can follow us on twitter, that's @nbcbayarea. all new within the last hour attorney general jeff sessions said he would try to shut down california's pot sales. a senior doj official confirms to nbc that sessions will undo an obama era policy that allowed federal prosecutors to just look the other way. an official announcement is expected later today and this comes after -- days after the legalization of marijuana for

recreational use in california. it is legal under state law but not under federal law. we will be making phone calls to our local prosecutors here as soon as the sun is up. right now a last look at what's going on weather wise. i know the rain was a big part of the topic yesterday, but today it's all changing. >> yeah, today we are still monitoring for the potential of any after shocks and also some light rain that will continue as we go through parts of the day in the peninsula and north bay. as we go into tomorrow another round of heavier showers that may slow down that morning commute and that's when we will see the next round of heavy rain moving through and we will have all the updates right here. jean nay is tracking a crash causing delays on the san mateo bridge. >> it's starting to get messy out there. i looked at the drive times, you are looking at about a 30 minute delay so definitely head out now, it looks like one of those vehicles is blocking one of those lanes. the good news, a tow truck seems to have just arrived on scene. >> that is always a good sign. that is what's happening "today in the bay."

we will be back with you at 7:25 with more live local news. >> don't forget to join us for nbc bay area news at 11:00. good morning, breaking overnight, a strong earthquake shakes the bay area. tremors lasting several seconds felt in san francisco and oakland, rattling buildings and nerves. but no serious damage or injuries. we'll have a live report. slammed, that massive winter storm targeting the entire east coast gaining strength overnight. heavy snow, high winds hammering the northeast right now after a historic snowfall blankets the south. >> it's knowing in florida. >> this morning, states of emergency declared, travel a nightmare with thousands of flights canceled, schools closed from georgia to maine. we've got the very latest.